Kurt Browning is no longer just a Skater Boy extraordinaire. In the family musical, Peter Pan, that opened at the Elgin Theatre on Thursday night, he morphed into Guacamole Boy. He is dressed from shoulder to sock in green, after all.
From the skating world’s perspective, it’s not a stretch at all for Browning to go toe-to-toe with professional dancers, not missing a beat, even without blades on his feet. He’s had plenty of training. Probably one of the best routines he’s ever done on ice was choreographed by a ballet dancer. And he’s married to one. He’s like a chameleon on ice. He’s Humphrey Bogart. He’s a rock star. He’s a snake. His strength, at least one of them, was his ability to skate to any kind of music.
And, knowing Kurt, always boyishly playful, it’s not a stretch for him to be cast as the boy who never grew up. Although off the ice, he’s very grown up, with two children and a home, it seems as if he was born to the role. And silliness isn’t far from his reach. Remember the clown routine that he made famous as a pro skater?
What is unusual and rather quite unbelievable, is to hear Browning sing. You heard that right: he SINGS two songs in Peter Pan. He’ll never pass for Josh Groban and he knows it, but it’s amazing to think that he’s tackling it.
Other skaters in the past have admitted to warbling: Elvis Stojko took on a singing role in the musical Grease, which played in Toronto. You can hear Emanuel Sandhu singing his own songs on his website, if you really want to badly enough. Mark Rowsom, a former Canadian pair skater at the world championship level, is a professional singer in Ontario.
The 1980 Olympic champion Robin Cousins from Britain turned an incredible career as a skater into an equally incredible career as a musical singer. Think Cats in London, England. And more and more, people are getting to know the incredible singing voice of Marc Ferland, who 25 years ago, was a budding Canadian skating star before injuries stopped his career. The Quebec-born Ferland performed at Skate Canada in Quebec City in early November. If he’s not careful, Ferland will start stealing the show.
Ferland is from Browning’s generation of skaters. Browning at age 41, is only two years older. And right now, he’s taking a crash course in musical theatre. He ad-libs admirably, but as a skater, he always did. Toller Cranston used to say he was amazed at how Browning could make a mistake look intentional.
Kurt Browning is 41 years old, happy to be going to work on the subway for a change, and unafraid to leave skating behind. He’s testing the waters to see what comes later.
